


Laughter in the Dark

by Galindrael



Series: A Very Dragon Age Christmas [16]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: DECFANFIC, Day sixteen, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, making cookies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 00:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2793719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galindrael/pseuds/Galindrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After returning from Redcliffe, Cullen and Scáthach found their work, naturally, piled up. After spending all day working Cullen was surprised to find Scáthach in the kitchen so late.</p><p>For the #DecFanFic challenge</p><p>There are currently 22 parts to this series, the link, for some reason is broken- sorry for the issue, I'm trying to fix it (as of 1 February 2015)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laughter in the Dark

It’s been a few days since Scáthach and Cullen came back from Redcliffe.  Cullen was relieved to have finally told his parents about his engagement to Scáthach, even if the conversations there were bumpier than the road. Every time he thinks of calling her 'Mrs. Rutherford' he lights up, and he hopes she feels the same. Cullen’s bird had finally returned from its latest trip and Cullen was now trying to write to his brother and other sister. But since himself and the Inquisitor were both absent, the reports had piled up and it was night before he could even begin writing the letters. He heard of Scáthach having meetings upon meetings today; nobles, diplomats, and updates in the War Room. It was well into the night when he finished his letters for the raven that was to be sent to the dispatch tower and separated to their correct directions. His bird should be back on the roost by nightfall in two days. Cullen’s raven, a gift from Leliana, had really grown on the Commander. He didn’t realize that, if it was in the tower, he’d always choose the one with the white patch of feathers on its chest to send his reports out. Leliana said it was silly for Cullen to not have his own bird, so on his Namesday she gifted the bird to Cullen. After he fed the bird he attached his letters and sent it out the window. Locking the doors behind him, he was ready for bed. _Sometimes the paperwork's more exhausting than the battlefield_.

Across the cold ramparts and into the keep’s main hall Cullen had tuned out most of the ambient noise of Skyhold’s occupants. That is until he passed the door to the kitchen and heard whispering- A lot of whispering. Cullen stopped and opened the door to find most of the kitchen staff outside the door.

 

“What is going on?” his shocked expression plain upon his face and in his voice. A faint sweet smell hung in the air.

“I’m sorry, messere, the Inquisitor. She’s using the kitchen. We- we didn’t know what to do,” the smaller elven girl answered. _Laila? Maybe._

“What is she doing?” Cullen eased his way through the crowd.

“We don’t know. She asked us to leave her alone, so we did. But we need to clean the kitchen before morning so…” She stopped short, looking to her feet.

“So you’re waiting for her,” they nodded, “I’ll talk to her. Go get some rest, tell the guardsman outside the door that the Commander wants him to _politely_ wake you up when the Inquisitor leaves,” they lowered their heads and before the head kitchen maid left he lightly grabbed her arm, “If the guardsman is unkind, you let me know”.

“Of course messere,” she bowed, and Cullen went to reach for the handle, “Messere?” Cullen looked to her, “You’ll be needing the master keys for that,” she bowed _again_ before leaving.

 

Cullen sighed, tucked his reports under his arm and grabbed his key ring. _Maker bless Josephine for using the key system with the symbols_. When he found the key with the pan etched onto it, he unlocked the door…which apparently startled Scáthach and Cullen got a face full of flour. It wouldn’t have been so bad had he not had his mouth open.

“Oh,” Cullen could barely see through the film of flour in his eyes and the dust of it on his eyelashes, but her hands were definitely over her mouth.

 _Flour tastes awful._ “What are you doing?” Cullen tried spitting out the flour but it kept making it worse, “It’s nearly midnight,” he wiped what he could on the back of his hand.

She was giggling, “I’m sorry,” and now laughing. She dusted off his pauldrons and tried removing some flour from his face, “I wanted to make cookies”.

“Cookies?”

“Yes, _cookies_ ,” She turned back to the table. And that’s when Cullen saw the mess she had made.

“How many did you-,” he kept staring at the table before he returned his gaze to her, “How many did you make?”

“I’m not sure. I lost count at around 23, no, 24 dozen,” she was heading back to the oven and checked on her current batch.

“I think you’ve made more cookies than we have people,” Cullen came around and saw the pile of cookies in one of the cauldrons.

“I know,” she started wiping the counter down.

“You know if you wanted cookies, we could have had the kitchen staff make them…or bought in bulk from Orlais,” Cullen was surprised when he turned and there was a cookie right in his face, pulling back instinctively.

“Try one,” She was smiling up at him. _Well at least I had practice with Sera pretending her cookies didn’t make me want to vomit._ He took it from her hand and bit into it. His eyebrows immediately shifted up. _This is actually really good._

“What do you think,” she asked.

Cullen laughed, “It’s good. Very good”, he ate the other half. “This is going to sound absolutely terrible, but I never thought, I mean," he fumbled, "it had never occurred to me that you could cook”.

She scoffed, “Ser Rutherford, I am a _Lady_ ,” his brow furrowed, and she shrugged “so naturally I used to sneak into the kitchens and watch them bake,” he shook his head, “Mother didn’t let me bake or cook anything myself, but she couldn’t scold me for just _observing_ ,” She smiled.

“But,” he walked up to her, placing his reports on the table then stood behind her to place his hands on her hips, “Why did you make so _many_?”

“I just had a craving for the cookies my staff used to make” _Maker, her ‘staff’,_ “and I figured I would spread some cookie love around”.

“That is kind but…you’ve made such a mess, you’ve sent this _staff_ into a fuss,” her head perked up.

“Oh, I didn’t think about that,” she paused and stared off for a second, “I’ll just clean up when I’m done,” she then turned from him and headed to the oven to retrieve the batch.

“Would you like help?”

“You want to help?” she seem surprised.

“I used to make with my mother and sister. I’m sure I can manage,” he pulled his gloves off and had Scáthach help him remove his pauldrons.

 

They baked for hours. Cullen would knead the dough and Scáthach would cut the shapes out. Apparently she had never eaten cookie dough before and was confused when he offered some to her. Really, he just wanted her to lick it off his finger but it lost its erotic-nature when he heard her say the blaspheming words, ‘I’ve never had cookie dough before’. He loved eating it more than he did eating the actual cookies. And now, so did she. Cullen made the mistake of flinging flour at her when they were cleaning up. And just using the left-over flour from the table, they had both managed to cover their clothes in flour.

She sat aside a small plate for herself and Cullen to take up to their room and then left a note saying she’d come back for them tomorrow. Cullen made sure to let the guardsman let the kitchen staff sleep until their normal time. As Cullen and Scáthach were on their way to their room when they heard “Inquisitor? Commander?” it was Varric.

“Varric! You’re still awake? Want a cookie?” She said quickly. _Oh, right, sugar. That was why I was apprehensive._

He smiled, “Yea, alright,” he took one, “Wow,  these are good”. She handed him another one.

“I’ll be making my rounds tomorrow, but for now, sleep…if I can sleep”.

 

Cullen and Scáthach washed the flour off their faces and necks and Cullen had to shake off his pauldrons and even his reports. Cullen lit the candles by her and then the ones by their bed before making his way to the fireplace. He added wood to the fire and pulled the screen in front of it to block out the light and make sure the embers stayed in their place. Scáthach was brushing out her hair when Cullen caught her reflection, she looked ill.

“Scáthach?” He went over to her, “Are you alright?” She nodded her head and placed a fist in front of her mouth.

“I think I ate too much cookie dough,” he couldn’t help but laugh. He handed her a glass of water and she sipped it.

“You’ll feel better in the morning, I promise,” He kissed her head and took the empty glass from her and re-filled it, “I’m leaving your glass on the nightstand”. _May as well, if not I’ll wake to you pouring yourself one again._

“Thank you,” she was braiding her hair now that the nausea had passed and she could move again.

Cullen set his grooming kit on the vanity next to her and opened the jar that held the mixture that flattened out his curls. She watched his fingers dip into the jar and scoop some onto the tips. _Maker, those fingers._  He ran it through his hair and put the kit back into the drawer then headed to bed. She followed suit moments later and crawled in next to him. _Maker this bed is comfortable._ She giggled.

“What?” He didn’t open his eyes, he was so tired.

“You smell like cinnamon,” she pushed back to him, trying to fit the curve of his body better, to get closer to him.

“Yea, well,” he pulled her to him, “you smell like flour”. They both started laughing in the dark and, Maker help them, they could not stop.

**Author's Note:**

> Some good ol' fashioned fluff-y BS. I love making cookies, and I'll be damned if Cullen isn't a baking man himself. Originally this was going to be about Sera but I think I prefer to stick to my Inquisitor/Cullen and only featuring other Inquisition members. I may make a few other exceptions like I did for Dorian/Bull but I've finished the game and now this is my only means of new content with my Inquisitor/Cullen. So voila! Hope you all enjoy! Thank you for reading!


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